Kiambu County children’s officer, Mong’are Mwambi has urged mothers to be proactive in volunteering information on fathers who engage their daughters in sexual affairs for legal action to be taken against them.
Speaking to journalists in his Kiambu office on Monday, Mong’are assured mothers of legal protection against husbands who threaten them with dire consequences upon reporting them to the authorities for committing incest.
The officer said most incest cases in the region were going unreported due to pressure put on mothers by their husbands and other male relatives committing incest hence denying justice to the victims.
He cautioned mothers against protecting husbands who abuse their daughters saying doing so was equal to colluding with them to commit the crime and therefore were liable for prosecution along with their husbands.
The children’s officer said that some fathers had gone to an extent of threatening to chase away or even kill wives and daughters if they dare report their crime to the authorities.
“It is very unfortunate that fathers have daughters who have delivered babies out of wed lock sired by them while others had blocked potential sons in-law from reaching their daughters," said Mwambi.
He cited a recent report brought to the Kiambu sub-county children’s office where a father had literally chased his two grown up daughters from home after which he assaulted his wife accusing them of being disobedient and uncooperative.
One of the daughters alleged that her father had approached her and her elder sister on different occasions with the intention of having sexual relations with them, a move they declined.
The officer said the father was later arrested and charged for the offences at the Kiambu law courts. The case is still ongoing.